Germany has suspended certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline until a subsidiary is established to comply with German law, Bundesnetzagentur reports.
Following a thorough examination of the documentation, the Bundesnetzagentur concluded that it would only be possible to certify an operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if that operator was organized in a legal form under German law.
Nord Stream 2 AG, which is based in Zug (Switzerland), has decided not to transform its existing legal form but instead to found a subsidiary under German law solely to govern the German part of the pipeline. This subsidiary is to become the owner and operator of the German part of the pipeline. The subsidiary must then fulfil the requirements of an independent transmission operator as set out in the German Energy Industry Act (sections 4a, 4b, 10 to 10e EnWG).
“The certification procedure will remain suspended until the main assets and human resources have been transferred to the subsidiary and the Bundesnetzagentur is able to check whether the documentation resubmitted by the subsidiary, as the new applicant, is complete. When these requirements have been fulfilled, the Bundesnetzagentur will be able to resume its examination in the remainder of the four-month period set out in law, produce a draft decision and deliver it to the European Commission for an opinion, as provided for in the EU legislation on the internal market,” the message reads.
It is also stated that the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the European Commission were informed in advance. The parties involved in the proceedings were notified of the decision, which was then published.